Victims of bullying, symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress, and suicidal ideation in teenagers

Abstract

The study aimed to verify the correlation between being a victim of bullying, the presence of depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms and suicidal ideation in teenagers. Also, it intended to identify if there were differences between the variables investigated, by gender and age. This was a cross-sectional quantitative research in which 117 teenagers participated. The instruments used were: a sociodemographic questionnaire, the California Bullying Victimization Scale, the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, and the Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation. The analyzes were performed using descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation, and Mann-Whitney U test. The results indicate that 48.71% of the sample presented suicidal ideation. There was a positive correlation between being a victim of bullying and having depression, anxiety and stress symptoms, and being a victim and having suicidal ideation. Girls present more stress symptoms than boys and younger adolescents are more victims of bullying than older ones. Thus, discussing this issue is relevant, both in schools and in families, to reduce the psychological suffering of the victims.